Education

When it comes to analogies regarding design and communication I find no better inspiration than from this man….

The highest technique is to have no technique. My technique is a result of your technique; my movement is a result of your movement. A good JKD man does not oppose force or give way completely. He is pliable as a spring; he is the complement and not the opposition to his opponent’s strength. He has no technique; he makes his opponent’s technique his technique. He has no design; he makes opportunity his design.

The moral? Be a good listener and an ever better responder…

“The new “art” of graphic design is concept; since anyone can learn design basics and mimic styles. With that said, bite all you want! But good luck with mimicking a unique thought process.”

Via: DesignYouTrust

Paul Reber, professor of psychology at Northwestern University, responded to this question submitted to Scientific American:

The human brain consists of about one billion neurons. Each neuron forms about 1,000 connections to other neurons, amounting to more than a trillion connections. If each neuron could only help store a single memory, running out of space would be a problem. You might have only a few gigabytes of storage space, similar to the space in an iPod or a USB flash drive. Yet neurons combine so that each one helps with many memories at a time, exponentially increasing the brain’s memory storage capacity to something closer to around 2.5 petabytes (or a million gigabytes). For comparison, if your brain worked like a digital video recorder in a television, 2.5 petabytes would be enough to hold three million hours of TV shows. You would have to leave the TV running continuously for more than 300 years to use up all that storage.

Link | Image: US Department of Health and Human Services

Via: neatorama.com

From Wikipedia: Ed Fella (born 1938) is an artist, educator and graphic designer whose work has had an important influence on contemporary typography. He practiced professionally as a commercial artist in Detroit for 30 years before receiving an MFA in Design from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1987. He has since devoted his time to teaching at the California Institute of the Arts and his own unique self-published work which has appeared in many design publications and anthologies. In 1997 he received the Chrysler Award and in 1999 an Honorary Doctorate from CCS in Detroit. His work is in the National Design Museum and MoMA in New York.

He also has the most creative resumes I’ve ever seen…

This is from 2007 so it’s interesting to see them talk about Twitter and how it’s the “new instant messaging”. Either way this is an absolutely hilarious and well-prepared presentation by two of the most notable names in web development. The hour closes with a serious summary of the impact of web 2.0, what it really means, and what direction it should go in.

Notable Quotes:

“Web 2.0 is a state of mind. It’s a zen thing. The sound of one hand clapping.”

“In this design, what’s important are the reflections; lots and lots of reflections. Everything’s wet in web 2.0 — wet floor, wet ceiling. So this is a great example of the web 2.0 design style.”

“And remember, Ajax is more than sliding, moving, and fading stuff. It’s an acronym, and that acronym stands for Accessibility Just Ain’t Xciting.”

“It’s all about community. Because none of us are as dumb as all of us.”

I bet he got an “A”!

Music: Slagsmålsklubben. Sponsored by destiny www.smk.just.nu. Animation: Tomas Nilsson www.tomas-nilsson.se.

Can Graphic Design Save the Planet?

No.

Can it help?

Maybe…

How Can Graphic Design Help Save the World, hosted by the Australian Graphic Design Association, featured leading design thinkers including Jacqueline Gothe, Andy Polaine, David Berman and Rick Poynor to share ideas about whether we as graphic/designers can be part of a world-saving solution.

View David’s presentation to the State of Design Festival in Melbourne, where he discusses the power and effectiveness of good design, and therefore the need to incorporate notions of social responsibility into design principles.

[click to continue...]

If you were born in the 1980s, how many Jennifers and Jasons did you go to school with? A lot, right? And then gradually, those names fell out of favor and were replaced by Ashley, Aidan, Madison, Ethan. Jennifer and Jason don’t even make the top 50 anymore. Other names have been more consistently popular, however. Think Michael, Daniel, Elizabeth.

What’s this got to do with marketing? Well, a new study looked at the speed at which baby names rose to popularity and also how quickly they declined. It turns out names that skyrocket to popularity are also fastest to fall into obscurity. The same behavioral drivers surrounding baby naming can translate into product and brand adoption. According to the study’s authors:

Fads tend to be viewed negatively, the authors point out. “And if people think that sharply increasing [popularity] will be short lived, they may avoid such items to avoid doing something that may later be seen as a flash in the pan.”

The paper points to examples in the music industry of new artists who bolt to the top of sales charts, but realize lower overall sales than those whose popularity grows more slowly. “This seemingly counterintuitive finding has important implications. One is that faster adoption is not only linked to faster abandonment, but may also hurt overall success,” the authors write.

Despite the excitement it generates for a few days, the video your brand launched that “went viral” on YouTube may be entirely forgotten in a few months or weeks and ultimately do nothing for long-term growth. But if you take a slower, measured approach to building a strong community of fans, your brand may remain popular for a lot longer. There’s no viral marketing campaign around Moleskine notebooks, for example, but the brand has built a dedicated group of fans that it continues to nurture and support.

Don’t mistake faddish-popularity as an indicator of long-term brand success. Fads rise to popularity quickly without any real reason – they’re not usually fulfilling a customer need (did anyone need snap-bracelets in elementary school in 1990?).

Instead of focusing on how to get as much buzz for your product or organization as fast as possible, think of how to meticulously build a community. It takes longer and can be more work, but the reward is much greater.

No one wants to be a flash in the pan. Not even Jennifer and Jason.

Via: Social Media Today via: Wharton